


How Old?

by GretchenSinister



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-04
Updated: 2020-01-04
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:08:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22110829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GretchenSinister/pseuds/GretchenSinister
Summary: Original Prompt: "Here goes!Bunny uses “mate” to mean his bunny-beloved, soul-mate-thing (if you will) but Jack doesn’t realise that Bunnymund cares that much, assuming that “mate” just means “friend” instead.Bonus points if Jack overhears (or is told) something like, “But we’re mates, isn’t that enough?” (maybe Bunny talking to North) and still doesn’t get it.More bonus points (and cookies) if there’s a happy ending!"Yes, this still counts for 3/31 darnit. Bunny may be older than Australian slang, but this isn’t a bad thing.
Relationships: E. Aster Bunnymund/Jack Frost
Comments: 6
Kudos: 181
Collections: JackRabbit Short Fics





	How Old?

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Tumblr on 4/1/2014.

“Thanks, mate,” Bunny says, laying his hand on Jack’s arm and letting it linger. It’s been a long day for both of them in the Warren. Bunny had spent most of the day leading Jack through parts of it even he hadn’t been to in years, wild, overgrown places that desperately needed attention. Some of them, new places that Bunny had claimed he had never visited, though they were surprisingly close to the heart of the Warren, he had asked Jack to freeze.  
  
“You need my help? I thought you were the best at what you did,” Jack had said, but much more softly than he would have just a few months before. And Bunny hadn’t snapped back at him, but smiled instead.   
  
“I am,” Bunny had said. “That’s why I know enough to ask you to help me. These groves need real winter to flourish.”  
  
Now, Jack smiles back at him. “How are you going to manage without me now?”  
  
Bunny shrugs, removing his hand. “Guess I can’t.”  
  
“Aw, come on, Bunny, how did you manage before?”  
  
“Those groves weren’t here before,” Bunny says.   
  
“Does the Warren always change without you knowing it?”  
  
“What makes you think it changed without me knowing it?” He flops down in the grass and pats the spot next to him. Jack crouches down gingerly and Bunny snorts. “You’re not going to hurt it, mate. Promise. Relax.” He closes his eyes with a sigh.  
  
They sit in silence for a little while, Jack breathing deeply of the warm, gentle breeze playing over his skin. “You know, even though we’re friends now, you sure you’re going to want me coming around once a year to bring winter to the Warren? That is, parts of it. Of course. Not too much, I know, I know.”  
  
Bunny cracks open an eye. “What do you mean once a year? I’m going to need you around more than that. I’m pretty sure I’m going to find loads of places in the Warren that…well, maybe I had forgotten about…that need winter now.”  
  
“Oh! Okay.” Jack lies down in the grass. “I…didn’t realize…that could happen.”  
  
“Neither did I,” says Bunny, glancing over at him.  
  
“Hey…Bunny.” Jack meets his green gaze, and oh, how it makes him feel like his own heart is growing, makes him want to laugh and jump and shout and do anything and everything that will show that he’s alive. He wonders that the other Guardians don’t spend all the time they can looking into Bunny’s eyes, for if it feels this wonderful to him, who hadn’t even been aware enough to _notice_ for months…  
  
“What is it, mate?”  
  
“The Warren is kind of like…you…isn’t it?”  
  
“What makes you say that?”  
  
“Well…it feels like you.”  
  
“Hm. Glad you noticed.” Bunny wriggles his shoulders against the grass. “And that’s why it would be that it doesn’t change without me knowing. Though I don’t always control it. But…I don’t mind the changes either.  
  
“Anything else you wanted to ask me?”  
  
Jack tilts his head to the side. “You’re a lot older than Australian slang, aren’t you…mate?”

**Author's Note:**

> Comments from Tumblr:
> 
> this-is-kinda-sparta said: Continue this! It’s really good :-)


End file.
